Clemson Tigers News: RJ Mickens, Trent Howard, Will Shipley

Today’s Events

Clemson Women’s Basketball vs East Tennessee State: 2:00 PM in Littlejohn Coliseum – The Tigers close out their out-of-conference schedule with a home match against the Buccaneers.

Clemson Men’s Basketball vs Queens: 6:00 PM in Littlejohn Coliseum – the second game of the day in Littlejohn will see the Tigers try to bounce back from their first loss of the season. We will have more on this game later this morning.

RJ Mickens will return to Clemson Football for another season

Clemson Football got a big boost for the 2024 season last night from RJ Mickens. The safety announced that he will return for his super senior season.

Mickens has played four seasons, but his freshmen season was 2020. COVID rules mean he is eligible to return for one more season.

Mickens has 120 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 5 interceptions in his career.

Mickens should be penciled in as one of Clemson’s starting safeties in 2024, along with Khalil Barnes at the nickel/safety hybrid. There are plenty of candidates who will compete for the third spot, including a returning Tyler Venables, Kylen Webb, Rob Billings, Sherrod Covil, and Kylon Griffin.

The Mickens news comes on the heels of confirmation from Dabo Swinney that another player will return next season.

Howard has played guard and center and will be in the mix at both positions. He allows the Tigers to be four deep at guard in 2024, with Marcus Tate and Walker Parks starting, and Harris Sewell and Howard rotating in.

Will Shipley graduates with a perfect GPA

Several Clemson athletes received their diplomas this week. They all deserve recognition, but this one stands out.

Clemson Football running back Will Shipley graduated in three years with a 4.0 GPA.

All while playing football too.

I often cite the 247Sports Composite when I refer to prospects or classes because it seems to be the simplest and most recognized composite ranking system, but each recruiting service does differ on its rankings.

While the Composite has Clemson’s Class of 2024 ranked at 12th, Rivals does presently have them as a Top 10 class.

It appeared Clemson would settle in at 11th, but a last-minute flip caused Florida State’s rating to slip a bit, allowing Clemson to move ahead of them.